Operator stops over-80s ban after criticism

The UK-based specialist tour operator Martin Randall Travel has removed a ban on holidaymakers aged over 80, after an investigation by watchdog magazine Which? Travel.

The consumer watchdog said it contacted the cultural tours provider as part of an investigation into how holidays are made harder for older people.

Martin Randall Travel’s age ban for people over 80 had been in place for 16 years. The Which? Travel investigation highlighted the ban after two people were stopped from going on a holiday with the company because they had just turned 81, despite previously taking tours to Jordan and Syria with the company.

The provider of cultural tours initially defended the age policy, saying it reduced instances of tours being spoiled for the majority by the presence of one or two who are not able to cope.

But it later said it had “decided to abandon our policy of not accepting bookings from people over 80. Instead, we will ask prospective clients to certify their fitness by performing a set of prescribed physical exercises. We will, however reserve the right to remove people from a tour if their lack of fitness impacts adversely on other participants.”

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